Microsoft Teams and other digital engagement channels are part of the new Microsoft Digital Contact Centre Platform which was revealed at Inspire 2022.
Microsoft Dynamics, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Nuance AI are also being utilised in the contact centre.
The contact centre has AI capabilities with self-service experiences, collaborative user experiences, live customer engagements, business process automation, fraud prevention and telephony capabilities.
Charles Lamanna, Corporate Vice President, Business Applications and Platform at Microsoft, said: “In today’s digital world, brand reputation is synonymous with customer experience, including the quality of customer care.
“Consumers expect effortless, consistent, and secure experiences across any point of contact they choose—in fact, their brand perception and customer loyalty depend on it.
“With the stakes this high, companies need a comprehensive yet flexible solution to modernise their customer care experience.
“We are thrilled to introduce the Microsoft Digital Contact Center Platform, an open, extensible, and collaborative contact centre solution designed to deliver seamless customer journeys.”
Nuance offers conversational AI, automation and security capabilities, providing customers with the tools to offer a quicker and more customisable service. Including Nuance also gives contact centres the ability to provide incentives to increase brand loyalty and other sales opportunities.
Microsoft’s contact centre does not have to replace existing systems; it has been built to allow companies to add its capabilities on top of their own. It can integrate with various contact centre infrastructures, as well as customer relationship management systems.
To achieve compatibility and interoperability with contact centres, Microsoft is partnering with Accenture-Avanade, Avaya, Genesys, HCL, NICe, and TTEC.
Omnichannel Communication and Intelligent Self-Service
Agents will be able to deal with customer needs more easily with the self-service and automation capabilities. Repeatable tasks and sophisticated transactions will be possible through automation technology.
Virtual and live agents can be intelligently connected to customers, taking into account the agents’ experience, skills, availability, and capacity and then creating AI-powered recommendations to assist the agents.
The digital contact centre can be personalised and deployed for digital entertainment channels, such as social messaging platforms and voice calling.
Microsoft Teams can offer further engagement options using Teams’ voice and video via Dynamics 365 Customer Service.
Customisable Customer Interactions
Customers can be authenticated using biometric authentication based on biometrics in a matter of seconds.
Employee and customer interactions are secured, and attack vectors and fraud patterns are prevented by the platform.
Consumer interactions throughout their journey with the brand are displayed via customer journey analytics.
The platform can anticipate customer needs and understand their reason for calling using its AI intent prediction capability.
Agent Productivity and Case Management
A 360-degree view of the customer is shared with agents who can manage requests from all channels while simultaneously working on other sessions.
Conversational intelligence and sentiment analysis tell agents what a customer needs and their emotional state. Recommendations are also created to help the agent find cross-sell and upsell options.
AI recommended knowledge articles are available to aid agents in finding the optimal resolution.
Intelligent case swarming automates the speed and efficiency of connecting with experts to resolve open cases. In one click, an agent can be put in contact with experts who are chosen based on their skills and experience.
Gaining Customers and Growing Revenue
Real-time offers allow agents to increase conversions and improve their upsells.
Personalised offer recommendations assist customers in locating relevant products, which increases the cross-sell and upsell revenue.
Predictive targeting tracks user behaviour and data to locate and provide engagement options, increasing customer satisfaction and revenue.
Special promotions and updates can be pre-emptively notified to speed up purchase intent and increase revenue.
Improving Infrastructure
According to Microsoft, its new contact centre platform adds flexibility, simplicity, and innovation. It removes complex IT integration, remaining flexible for partners and customers.
Tasks and workflows can be automated using no-code, low-code, or pro-code. Chatbots with conversational AI can be added to speak to customers across channels.
Self-service can be undertaken by customers in a number of scenarios with the option of connecting to live agents when necessary.
The platform can also scale according to seasonal or any other increases in demand. The contact volume, service levels, and wait times are automatically adjusted without impacting performance.
Contact Centre Partner Network
Accenture-Avanade is providing its Customer Engagement solutions to improve customer experience and business results.
System integrator partners include EY, HCL, Hitachi, KPMG, PwC, TCS, and TTEC, plus ISVs like Avaya, Genesys, and NICE.
Microsoft announced a slew of new Teams features at Inspire 2022.
Viva Engage, a new social media platform integrating with Teams, was also unveiled at Inspire 2022.
